Synchronicity
by MeikoSakine
Summary: -ON HIATUS- It's been almost 16 years since Katniss came out of the arena. Now a mother to 15-year-olds Solara and Varius, the Capitol shows her just again that they own her. *Note!* This is set after the first book, so all events unless stated in the 2nd and 3rd book haven't happened.
1. Chapter 1

My friend Lottie (RainbowLuck) has been writing an amzing Hunger Games fanfic, and she told me I should write one! So, even though I have many ongoing fanfics, this is for her :3

Please R+R!

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Chapter 1

Sighing, I glanced over to my left where my brother Varius stood. I smirked at his face, bright red and all sorry-looking at being caught stealing by our mother.

"Solara!"

Speak of the devil. Mother was now glaring at me.

"Yes?" Uh-oh. Now it was time for me to get my earful.

"I doubt your brother would have the guts to do this without your getting involved." Varius looked hurt "So own up, missy!"

Varius looked into my eyes in the pleading way he had oh-so-perfected over the years. He may be my twin, but we are nothing alike.

For example, he is cute, cuddly, and totally innocent.

I am fierce, a fighter, and I have a temper to boot.

My mother is always joking about how I turned out like her, and my brother like our father. Not that I know who he is. Whenever I ask about him, my mother just goes all silent and distant. But I know he has something to do with the Hunger Games. Mother never talks about that, either.

Stupid Capitol.

Anyway, back to the present.

We were in trouble for stealing. Well, Mother _said_ we were stealing, but it hardly is. So we went over the fence, and trapped some rabbits and stuff. They don't _belong_ to anyone, how can it be _stealing?_

"Solara!"

Varius looked like he was about to drop to his feet and plead with me. I sighed, and rolled my eyes.

"Yes. I own up to it. I was the one who dragged him along with me."

Well, that sort-of is true. See, earlier today, we were playing down in the meadow. After a while, we got bored, and since the electric wasn't on in the fence, I decided it would be fun to go past it. Of course, goody-goody Varius told me he didn't want to, so I threatened him that I would tell Mother about his bed-wetting episode last week. After that, he was pretty much putty in my hand. We snuck under the fence, set some traps how Uncle Gale had showed us, and then waited. When we had caught some rabbits, we took them and snuck back under the fence. That was when Mother had found us. She had taken the rabbits in home hand, and grabbed my arm in the other. Varius just followed along behind. I guess she thought I was responsible (Which I was).

Mother sighed, and sat down at the table. She massaged her forehead with her hand.

"Solara, Darling, you know I love you, but this has got to stop. If one of the peacemakers see you-"

"But they don't!" I exploded "They don't see me, and when they do, they don't care! So why do you?"

Mother looked at me sadly.

"When your Uncle Gale and I were younger, we fought a bit." She covered her face "It was very silly, really. But one day, we had a fight. He ran off, under the fence, and shot some birds. When he came back, however, he was seen by some peacemakers."

A cold feeling settled in my stomach.

"They tied him up, in the town square" She chocked on her words. I guessed it was one of her bad memories from he late teen years. "And then they whipped him."

The room was so silent; you could've probably heard a feather drop. If you had one, that is.

"It was terrible." Mother continued "There was blood, everywhere. And he was in so much pain..." Mother trailed off. Suddenly, she looked up, right into my eyes. I could see the sadness, the pain and the torture. "I could not bear it if you, any of you, were caught, and hurt like that. Do you understand me?"

Both of us nodded.

"Good." Mother sighed again before standing up. She walked over to the kettle, and put it on. She sighed again, but much more deeply this time.

"Go and get your reaping clothes on." She said quietly.

My dress was very pretty. Sky blue and cut to fit well on my 15-year-old body. Mother offered to do my hair up for me, but I refused. I just brushed it out, and let the brunette waves bounce off my shoulders.

I knew Varius would take his sweet time getting ready, so I left without him. It sounds heartless, but I wanted to spend time with my friends, who after today I may never see again.

When I got down to the square where they were holding the reaping, I scanned the crowd for my two best friends, Cecille and Vivien. We greeted, and then went up to the peacemakers for them to take a bit of blood, and register us.

None of us said anything; we were all too scared, too nervous. We probably should've spoken to each other, though. It could've been the last chat we would ever have together.

Finally, it was time.

A stupid Capitol woman tottered up onto the stage in her heels. I made a face. Her hair was all pulled up on top of her head in a topknot, and then curly. The locks were dyed bright blue at the roots, going to a cool icy blue, almost white. Her face was caked in foundation, and then she had blue eyelids, lips and also a blush that gave her face a blue-ish tinge. Her dress, something that I would never, ever be able to afford was made up of multiple fabrics in shades of blue, all sewn together at angles, and slashed in some places to show a blue bodysuit underneath. On her feet were stupidly high heels, studded with little jewels that shone in the light.

She looked like an idiot.

Like every year, the mayor gave a speech about how lovely the Capitol was, and how we should be so glad that they give us this 'honour' every year.

It's around this time I switch off. I don't want to hear them rambling on, and I certainly don't want to hear them rambling on about how 'great' the Capitol is.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, they came to the actually reaping. Picking the names out of two big bowls.

Choosing two animals for the slaughter.

"Right, girls and boys!" the blue capitol woman said "Everyone always starts with the girls, so I'm going to start with the boys, this year!" She smiled, but no-one cheered.

Cecille, Vivien and I linked hands, Cecille on my left and Vivien on my right. I glanced to my left, and saw Varius stood on his own, biting his thumb nail. I wanted to go and stand next to him, to comfort him.

But of course, girls and boys have to stay separate.

He looked round, and caught my eyes.

It was strange; at that moment I suddenly felt calm. I could feel all his worry, all his fear. It was like we had just connected. We held our eye contact, and I could see the worry in his face disappear, as if I had just sent my calm feelings to him.

And then, I felt a foreboding feeling. It was terrible, and it burned my throat, making me want to throw up. But I kept my cool, for his sake.

_If I'm calm, then so is he._

The Capitol woman called out a name, but I was too busy looking at Varius. I could feel Cecille and Vivien tighten their grips on my hands, and I looked down.

"I'm so, so sorry, Solara." Vivian said. I looked up at her, slightly confused. What? Why was she sorry?

And then I looked up at the stage.

"Let's welcome our brave young man to the stage!"

My insides went cold, and I could feel a look of horror spreading across my face.

"Varius Everdeen!"

I heard someone else let out a cry, probably my Mother. But I didn't care.

Varius! Varius, my poor brother! Why him? Why did it have to be him!

I watched with a new sense of detest towards the Capitol woman as she walked to the bowl containing the names of the girls. She put her hand in, and swished around a bit. Finally, she picked one up.

She walked agonizingly slowly towards the microphone. She leaned down, and every girl and mother watched her mouth form the first sound.

"Solara Everdeen!"


	2. Chapter 2

After much pestering, I have finally written chapter two.

This chapter is for my lovely but very pester-y best friend, Lottie (RainbowLuck!)

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Chapter 2

I had to blink. What? I swear I had not heard that right.

Me and Varius were going into the arena?

Together?

My legs turned to jelly. I could see the Capitol woman scanning the crowds, but I did not dare to make a step, and fall over. Finally, a peace keeper made a move towards me, but I decided it would be better to walk up with dignity, rather be dragged up kicking and screaming.

Not that I could say the same for my Mother. I could hear her, screaming for us both as I climbed up the stairs. I glared at the mentor just for good measure. I knew who he was; Peeta Mellark.

My father.

At least, I think so. He and my Mother were supposed to be in love at the time me and Varius were conceived, so I can only guess that he is the utter and absolute jerk who knocked up my Mother, and then left her. So I guess I did have a reason to glare at him.

Ha. At least he had he grace to blush, and look away. A 31-year-old man being stared down by a 15-year-old girl? Pathetic.

Mother was still crying out to us. People around her had moved away from her, and some were giving her dirty looks. A group of peacekeepers had moved towards her, and they were grabbing her arms and trying to move her away, trying to stop her making a scene. Ha, too late for that. All the cameras were on her, and projecting her image to everyone to see, and laugh at. I bet the Capitol was having a great haw-haw at my Mother.

Suddenly, she ripped her arms out of the peacekeepers grasp, and ran forwards

"Please!" She yelled. I saw Peeta look longing at her out of the corner of my eye "Please! Don't take away both my children! This is just too cruel! Please!"

The Capitol woman looked at Peeta, who shrugged his shoulders. Of course, it was against the rules to do a re-pick. The only way would be for someone to volunteer.

"I volunteer!" Someone yelled. My head shot up.

It was Vivien.

I stared at her in shock. She couldn't! She couldn't take my place! She started to walk towards the stage, when I pushed the Capitol woman aside, and grabbed the microphone.

"No!" I said. Vivien looked up, bemused "Vivien, you can't take my place! You can't!" I swallowed "If Varius is going to die, I want to die too." I could feel his stare boring into my back.

"_Walk over here" _I thought to him. Surprisingly, he did. I took his hand, and we held them up, together.

United.

Vivien looked into my eyes, and nodded. I was glad she understood.

By now, the Capitol woman had her hand on my shoulder, and was trying to take the microphone from my hand. I hadn't even realised I was still holding it till then.

"Well." The woman said, glaring at us two "It seems our tributes have already shaken hands." She turned back to the crowd, and beamed at them "Happy Hunger Games! And my the odds be _ever_ in your favour"

The anthem started to play as we were lead from the stage and into the town hall. From there, we were separated and led to different rooms. I sat down on a chair, and waited for my visitors.

The first to arrive was Vivien. She ran up to me, and hugged me tight.

"You should've let me go." She said "I don't have a life. I'm going to starve to death soon, anyway." She looked at me sadly "But you. You have your Mother to look after. You have your Father to find."

I just held her hands in mine.

"No. you need to stay here. Keep Cecille company. Go see my Mother sometimes. Promise me on that?" She nodded.

"And anyway." I smiled bravely, even though I was crying inside "Who knows? I might find my Father in the Capitol."

Vivien nodded, and then explained to me that Cecille wasn't going to come and see me. I understood. I probably wouldn't want to say goodbye to my best friend forever. Instead, she left me a note, and a little package.

"Here." Vivien said, passing it to me "You know you can take something from home, right? Cecille wants you to take this."

I opened the package, and smiled at what was inside. It was a small locket, coloured gold. I opened it, and gasped. Inside was a picture of me, Varius and Mother, taken a few months back on our fifteenth birthday. We had gone to the meadow, and had a picnic. It was one of my best memories.

I let Vivian fasten the locket around my neck as I read the letter.

_Dear Solara,_

_I'm really sorry I couldn't come and see you today. I really wanted to, I really did. But I don't think I can face it._

_That sounds really bad, doesn't it? This could be my last chance to see you, ever, and I am too afraid to face it. I'm such a chicken._

_Anyway. I only have a few minutes to write this before Vivien leaves to come see you. So I'm going to say this quickly._

_I noticed what happened today between you and Varius. You can sense each other, can't you? You can listen to each others thoughts. Well, the thoughts you want them to hear anyway. This could be very helpful in the arena, so keep it in mind. I'm sorry, I don't know anymore about your gift. But with everything comes a disadvantage. So I'm going to warn you of that too. Only use your gifts when you have to. _

_Please tell Varius of this. _

_Cecille_

I looked up at Vivian. She caught my eye, and then looked away, avoiding my gaze.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" I asked her. She nodded.

"It's an old tale my Mother used to tell me." She sighed "It goes along the lines of someone who has been subject to many horrors will give birth to twins without a father, and those two children will share a magnificent gift that no-one else will ever understand. Unfortunately, the Capitol also knows of this story, and they have a hunch that it's true. Obviously, it is, but they don't know that. They probably want to use your gift against you and Varius."

I sat back. She was right. The story applied to my Mother, and to me and Varius.

"Times up!" A peace keeper barked, making both me and Vivian jump. He threw open the door, and grabbed Vivian by the arm when she didn't move. Vivian went with him, but then struggled, pulling against his grip.

"Solara!" Vivian called "Please, tell Varius of all this. And also..." Vivian looked down and blushed bright red "Tell Varius I'll be cheering for him as well as you. And that I always have..."

I blinked, and watched as the peace keeper pulled her out of the room.

Strange. The last thing I would know of my best friend was that she was utterly smitten with my brother.

I would've laughed and asked her for all the juicy details, if I hadn't been in my situation.

I suddenly realised I was on my feet, and sat back down. I sat quietly and waited for Mother to come along and see me, to say goodbye. I knew I wanted to see her. I needed her to hold me tight right now, and tell me it was all right. I needed to smell my Mother's scent, feel my Mother's soft brunette hair; but most of all, I needed her to sing that lullaby she used to sing for me when I was younger.

_Deep in the meadow, under the willow  
A bed of grass, a soft green pillow  
Lay down your head, and close your eyes  
And when they open, the sun will rise._

I tried with all my might to remember the next verse, but it just wouldn't come to me. I looked up at the clock, and waited.

Five minutes turned into ten.

Ten turned into twenty.

Twenty turned into an hour.

And she didn't come.

She didn't come.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My feeling of sadness at not being able to see my mother one last time before leaving to my death turned into anger pretty quickly. Whilst we were being loaded onto the train, the mentor Peeta held his hand out to help me up the steps on board.

I slapped his hand away, and looked him in the eyes. He looked surprised, and slightly scared. Like a wild animal someone had trained, but not well enough. Like a wolf that longed to be running free across the land, but heeled at his master's call.

"If you think I'm touching you, you have another thing coming, _Peeta._" I hissed just loud enough for him to hear through gritted teeth. I said his name with disgust. He stepped back and let me climb -with a slight difficulty- onto the train. I wasn't that big, being only 5'1 and 110 pounds. I was underweight, and had hardly any muscle.

I walked though to my bedroom for the journey, and flopped down on the bed. The bed was soft and plushy, and smelt like it had been newly washed. I missed the lumps in my bed back home, the smell of cat, smoke and life.

I must've fallen asleep, because when I awoke it was dark out. My stomach growled, and I dragged myself out of the bed and made my way to the compartment where the food was.

When I stepped inside, I was greeted by the warm smile of my brother. He looked over at me, his face tired.

"Hey, Solara." He mumbled softly. I walked over and gave him a big hug.

"What's up, Var-Var?" I asked. He winced at the cutesy nickname, and I laughed.

"Kidding." I said, plopping down next to him "Where's bread-boy and make-up-monster?" I asked.

Varius couldn't help but laugh.

"They're over there." He said, motioning to the compartment where the Mentor and the Escort sleep "They said not to be disturbed. I don't even want to know what they're doing."

I laughed. It was funny when Var-Var made such grown-up jokes.

We chatted for a while about home, and then bread-boy and make-up-monster came back in. I caught Varius's eye, and wriggled my eyebrows suggestively, earning a laugh from him. Dinner was served, and we ate without a care in the world.

Since there was working showers on the train, I decided to wash up after our meal. The shower was very grand, like most Capitol things, but under all its fanciness it was just a basic shower.

_Press here for water. Turn left for cold, right for hot._

Once I was clean, I went to bed. There was no point going back and being sociable.

The next morning, we were due to arrive in the Capitol. Breakfast was a bleak occasion, and none of us spoke. I was tired, I could sense Varius was nervous, bread-boy refused eye contact, and make-up-monster seemed to pretend we didn't exist. Fair enough.

We arrived in the Capitol. There were loads and loads of people around, all dressed in stupid clothes. I even saw a woman with _whiskers _for goodness sake. I smiled, but really I couldn't give a damn what they thought of me.

_You all want me dead, anyway. It dosen't matter if you like me or not._

Make-up-monster whisked us off to this big building, and inside we were ushered into a room. There was 24 of us, most of us nervous wrecks. You could literally _see _the nervousness radiating off some of the younger ones. I held my head high.

Someone came for each of us, and were were taken down one of two corridors, left for girls and right for boys. We came to changing rooms, and we were told to take our clothes off because we were going to be given showers.

_Where had I heard that before?_

Whilst I changed, I snuck glances at the other girls. _In a few days, all of these people could be dead. _I though. I hated that idea. One girl caught my eye.

She looked young, much younger than me. She was slim, blonde, and had green eyes. She intrigued me. There was something about the way she held herself that told me she was mature, and not to be messed with.

I slipped the gown that they had provided on, and we were led to another room, with sections divided by curtains. Above each curtain, there was a number. I walked over to number 12, and was greeted by two plump women.

"I'm Dana!" the first one said quickly.

"And I'm Vana!" The other added.

"We're going to get you all cleaned up, 'kay?"

I didn't say anything, and let them have their way with me.

_Twins. How ironic._

First, they hosed me down with a shower head. I had already showered the night before, but they seemed to think I was so dirty I needed another one. They washed my hair, their fingers cutting my scalp. The scrubbed my feet, my nails, my ears. Every inch of me was scrubbed, buffed or polished. They waxed off the hairs on my legs and under my arms. I don't even want to start to explain how painful that was.

_It's like preparing a pig for slaughter._

They trimmed my hair, plucked my eyebrows and painted my nails a pale shade of pink.

Pink.

When they were _finally _done with me, they took me to a small room and left me there. I felt cold and exposed, dressed only in the short, thin gown. It was dark in the room, and when I heard the door open, I jumped.

"Calm, child." A voice said. Male. I felt something touch my arm, and on reflex I reached back, grabbed his wrist and twisted it behind his back.

"Ah! Ah!" He cried "Mercy! Let me go, child!"

I don't know what made me let go, but I did. He flicked the switch on, and I got a good look at him.

He was basic Capitol. Seemed to be in his late twenties or early thirties. Crazy hair. Crazy clothes. Crazy make-up.

But his eyes were kind, and that was good enough for me.

"Ow!" He said, rubbing his arm "I'm Augustine. You can call me August. I'll be your stylist."

"Solara." I replied, holding out my hand for him to shake "Sorry about your arm."

"It's fine." He replied, taking my hand and shaking it "It was my fault for sneaking up on you like that! You have a good grip, my girl!"

I smiled, and decided that this might not be so bad after all.


	4. Just a quick AN

Just a quick A/N

I know you're not supposed to do this… So I'm sorry for that . But I really don't have the time for this fan fiction anymore… Maybe one day I will come back across it and finish it, but that time is not now. I wish I could explain it in more detail, but basically I just don't have the time what with me going into my last year of school, exams and all that fun stuff.

I have set it to complete, but it is not in any way complete. I've just put it on a hiatus.

Again I'm sorry,

Catt


End file.
